Meet the Imperfects #3: HazMat and Solara

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Two new characters are revealed with sweet art and hot screens.

By Hilary Goldstein

Eager to introduce new characters into its comic-book universe, Marvel has teamed up with Electronic Arts to create a brand new fighting game, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. The game is an effort to fuse iconic characters such as Wolverine and Spider-Man with brand new villains in a two-player online brawler. While gamers must wait until the fall to get their hands on Marvel Nemesis, the newest Marvel villains (who will become part of regular Marvel continuity) can be found in a six-issue miniseries written by Greg Pak and drawn by Renato Arlem.

Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects is a prologue to the videogame. Series stars Elektra, Spider-Man, Thing, Wolverine, Storm and The Human Torch, who find themselves abducted by an ancient alien race conducting mutation experiments throughout the galaxy. Nemesis pits these heroes against one another and Marvel's brand-new menacing villain team, The Imperfects.

Doctor Keith Kilham was a quiet unassuming scientific nerd who worked for the US Defense Science Board. He reported directly to the Pentagon and dealt with mankind's most lethal substances: the Ebola Virus, Anthrax, Ricin, HCN, Mustard gas, Sarin gas, & VX gases. It was Dr. Kilham's job to find immunization vaccines for the world's deadliest substances. Ironically, Kilham's own resistances were remarkably weak - he would catch every cold and flu around him and was endlessly popping meds so that he could continue working.

During a terrorist attack the lab was compromised during a tricky biological test. Safety containment procedures were rendered useless. Kilham had to react quickly - several agents were on the verge of contaminating the main research facility - the staff and the entire community were at risk. Despite the fact that his vaccines had yet to be tested on human subjects, Kilham injected himself with five highly unstable test immunity agents. He then rushed to the lab to secure the unleashed substances - hoping his vaccines would protect him.

The lab staff was quarantined for a month. Kilham told no one about the injections and was the only person to experience side effects from that fateful day. His body slowly started to dissolve as his molecular make-up shifted. He was becoming a living mutation.

With the help of his spies in the Pentagon, Roekel had Kilham kidnapped and brought to his secret research center. Roekel was fascinated by his unstable DNA. Was this the missing link that would allow humans to accept the alien grafts?

Roekel devised a way to control Kilham's degenerative process and harness the power of his new found molecular make-up. With a tech upgrade, the disfigured and severely mutated scientist was reborn as the terrifying HazMat. Driven by a desire to cure his state - and find cures for all the chemical weapons which afflict human kind, Kilham ironically retains his mild-mannered nature and can be relied upon to deliver the most measured responses to any crisis the Imperfects face. Even more ironically, he still pops pills to fight off colds.

In the middle of a ruthless gang war which had kept him underground and away from his wife for a year, the infamous Yakuza leader Kazuya Morimoto discovered that his wife had given birth to a daughter named Reiko. When he discovered that the child was actually fathered by one of his Yakuza rivals, Morimoto went insane with rage. While his wife and the infant Reiko slept, Morimoto poured gasoline in every room and burned the house to the ground. As he drove off, the distant screams of his wife cut through the winter night, but he did not stop.

When the maid returned in the morning, the house had been reduced to smoldering embers. She found baby Reiko miraculously in the middle of the burnt structure without a scratch. Reiko was kept a secret and sent to Cambridge to live with the maid's sister.

There she grew up with a new identity - and had no idea of her true past. Living a life of seclusion, Reiko was home schooled by her new found family and showed an aptitude for quantum physics. Years later she wrote her doctorate on sub zero combustion. Her writings were de facto standard used by research facilities world wide.

After the theory was taken to scientific trials, Reiko was on the verge of a breakthrough. Instead, a terrible accident destroyed her University laboratory, killing dozens of workers and observers -- including her adoptive parents but once again, Reiko miraculously survived.

Niles Van Roekel identified Reiko and considered her a prime candidate. She was the daughter of a warrior, well versed in physics & particles, and had a mythical resistance to fire. Roekel lined her insides with alien crystal and turned her into a human kiln. Now, her body can store high concentrations of energy and release it at targets. Whatever substance is in her vengeful wake is instantly evaporated.